Grain-Free Banana Walnut Muffins (Paleo)

Paleo grain-free banana walnut muffins made with almond flour and pure maple syrup. These naturally sweetened treats come with a nutty streusel topping and make for a healthy breakfast or snack!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my (almost) six years of blogging, it’s that banana bread recipes are serious business. They’re practically an institution.

And for a good reason…

Moisture

Natural sweetness

Comfort

Familiarity

Warmth

…like a really, really, ridiculously long embrace from a chiseled hunk of the most glorious human specimen.

…if I may be so frank as to draw that comparison

I feel like the most important thing I could possibly say to you right now is you need to make these muffins.

..Not that I’m trying to be pushy or overbearing, just that I know us well enough by now to say with confidence that these muffins will strengthen trust, build bonds, comfort all the chakras, and lay the foundation for future wise decisions. BIG news, bears.

In all seriousness, I actually made this recipe because I had a few people inquiring about making my age-old Gluten-Free Banana Walnut Muffins grain-free. I’ve learned over the years that when it comes to you and banana bread, there’s no fooling around. So rather than trying to troubleshoot that specific recipe to adapt a grain-free version, I started from scratch. And what I’ve landed on here is MEGA.

..Don’t forget the nutty topping, though. It counts.

As per ush, The muffin batter is whipped up in your blender. Zippity zap zoom DONE! You stir together your nutty topping mixture in a bowl, spoon it over the muff batter, bake, and shizzity shaza rama lama dingdong UGH! Best muffins ever.

Now that I’ve sold you on the concept, I will say, I always recommend making muffins in bulk. I mean, why not? They freeze super well, they’re perfect for snack, brunch, throwing at birds, you name it, there’s a purpose. So feel free to go big on this recipe.

Walnut Topping:

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly oil or spray a muffin pan (or line with muffin liners).

Add all of the ingredients for the muffins (except for the walnuts) to a high-powered blender and blend until completely smooth. Note: the batter will be thick - this is normal. Stir in 1/2 cup of raw walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tray, filling 9 of the holes 3/4 of the way up.

Stir together the ingredients for the walnut topping. Spoon the topping over the muffin batter.

Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn golden-brown. Turn off the oven and leave muffins in the warm oven for 5 minutes.

Remove muffins from oven and allow them to cool at least 30 minutes before releasing them from the muffin tray. Note: if you don't use muffin liners, run a knife between each muffin and the muffin tray in order to pop them out. Serve and enjoy!

These look divine – can’t wait to try!! One question: the lead-in to the post says that they’re made with almond, coconut & tapioca flour but the recipe only lists almond. Did you try both variations or just the all-almond? Thanks!

Why don’t I have any ripe bananas in my kitchen right now? OK, I know you can’t answer that but this is a big problem. After the wonder that was your morning glory bread, I know these are going to be un-freaking-believeable and I’m going to search out ripe bananas as soon as I finish typing. Have a great weekend!

You mentioned coconut and tapioca flours in the introduction of the article but I didn’t find them in the recipe.The muffins look very tempting.. I can’t wait to make these but have to wait for your confirmation about the ingredients:-)

My apologies for the confusion! The introduction was incorrect, and the ingredients list is correct – all you need is almond flour – no tapioca or coconut flour. I had developed two different muffin recipes on the same day and confused myself, ha! So you can proceed forth with the recipe as it’s written 🙂

By the way, I love this recipe! It made 12 medium muffins for me. I’m going to make it again this weekend. I really really really love this recipe. Thanks again for your website and your cooking beauty and grace.

These are delicious muffins (and I don’t like banana muffins!!) The topping makes them bakery quality. I would like to share them on my site and will give you full credit 🙂
I wanted to let you know they are not grain free because of the baking powder – this doesn’t matter much to me but it may to some of your readers.

Seriously, these are incredible! I made a batch yesterday afternoon and they tasted amazing right out of the oven. I was thrilled to find they tasted even better this morning! What a perfect healthy treat with morning coffee by the Christmas tree…
One note that the recipe made 12 muffins for me too, just as another person mentioned